


Big Babies and Puppies.

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erika has to act supportive of Jonathan's latest career.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Babies and Puppies.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my friends Jess and Hannah. Thanks guys. Set in 2193 roughly a year after Jonathan retired after the end of his presidency

She slid the last of her PADDs into the drawer and leant back in her chair. She knew that was her last order of business for the day, so maybe she would get home at a decent hour tonight. It was strange being the only one still working in her household, though she hoped HC was going to move on soon. At least he would have a job. She looked up to Shane, her aide, and shook her head with a smile. "OK, that's us done for this week. I should get home." She smiled, already able to sense what Shane was going to say. He'd been her aide for 5 years now, and the only routine they'd had for all 5 years was the Friday routine.

"Why, come for a drink with us!" He asked right on time. She always had to think of a reason, but this week was simple. This morning she'd left a husband bouncing up and down in excitement, a bit like a five year old, and she felt she needed to go check on her house.

"I can't, Jonathan will be waiting and I promised I'd get home, his latest occupation as a beagle breeder seems to be taking off, we're due a litter any day." She smiled and shook her head, looking at the picture on her desk of Jon and his two beloved beagles.

"That's how President Archer is dealing with retirement?" Shane asked, dropping to the chair opposite her. They rarely spoke about her home life, despite the fact that it was what she enjoyed talking about.

"That and lectures. He's giving a lot of lectures around the Federation." She hated when he went away to do lectures, even when he'd gone away as the President, if she hadn't gone along with him, she'd been in constant contact with his security detail. That didn't seem to happen as much now as it had then, which meant she worried about him.

"Must be good for him to be keeping busy?" Shane asked, and she had to agree with that, it was definitely good for Jon to be busy, she knew that downtime had often led to his recurrent depression. She'd first seen it more than 30 years earlier, when he'd returned from the Expanse, but had seen it from time to time since.

"Seems to be. He's happy about it." She smiled, 'happy' was one of the biggest understatements she had ever uttered. His bouncing around the house this morning, and for most of the last week, waiting for Katryn to have her first litter was slightly more excited than just 'happy' conveyed.

"You considering joining him?" Shane asked after a minute, and she didn't really have to think about it. Sure in generations past a 78 year old woman would have been retired, but she didn't feel her physical or mental health had slipped enough that she needed to retire.

"In retirement? God no. Now that Serena has left home and HC seems to be about to join her I'd have even more issue with lack of use than I did when I took leave on Andoria." She wondered if she would ever decide to retire, probably not for a few years at least. She knew that eventually she wanted to spend time with just Jonathan, but they still had time for that. "Maybe when Jon and I can disappear off to Risa or somewhere together, when HC has left home."

"How old is HC now? 25?"

"Just gone 26. Serena's 31 now, and little Leah is 4." Her granddaughter was another reason she didn't really want to leave work, she wanted Leah to see that if she wanted too she could work as long as she wanted. She was definitely better at parenting a generation removed.

"You've let HC stay at home until he was 26? You're a patient parent. My mother wouldn't have let any of us stay." Shane grinned, and Erika had trained his mother, she wouldn't be surprised by that. She couldn't really believe that HC was 26, she didn't really want to believe he was older than 6.

"I'm not really accepting my little boy is that old yet. I'll see you on Monday." She finally pushed herself to her feet, getting her energy together to walk home. That was the only thing that took more out of her now than it had when she was younger. She picked up the last remains of things she was taking home to read over the weekend and smiled. "Don't drink too much tonight."

"Yes Admiral. I'll have those reports for you Monday, and remember you have a 10am meeting with Minister Soval."

"I remember, thank you Shane." She patted him on the shoulder as she passed him, and tried not to let the half mile walk home defeat her. It took a little longer than usual as she paused to enjoy the Spring air through the city, something she enjoyed doing wherever she was. But walking through the door she was glad to be home. She took off her boots as she stopped at the table and shouted through the house. "Jonathan, I'm home."

"I'm in the den!" He yelled back a second later, and she could already hear the excitement in his voice. She wondered where HC was, if he was wandering about the house ready to come in and say something inappropriate to her as he often did, but she focused on finding her husband first. Seeing if there was any movement with the puppies.

"What are you doing?" She asked, rounding the corner to the den, seeing him sat on the bed looking into the bed they had set up for Katryn a few days ago when it had been obvious she was about to pop.

"Katryn had puppies. Five."

"Good!" She grinned and kissed his cheek before reaching down and stroking an obviously exhausted Katryn in the bed. "I feel you girl, and I only did it one at a time." She muttered to the dog, then grinned and sat back up to face Jon. "This means you have to stay up round the clock and check they are feeding, you know?"

"I know. Will you stay up with me?" He asked with one of his 'if you love me you'll help' looks, the ones that had convinced her to help him do things she generally would never do. She looked between him and the puppies and shook her head.

"Jonathan I've been at work all day. I'll try to stay awake as late as I can, but today was hell."

"What happened?" He asked, and she wondered what to say. It had been an odd day, and the new president, Fraz or similar. The one she hadn't voted for at least.

"The new president 'stopped by'. He had a lot of questions about how you handled things. I told him to call you if he really wanted to know because we had our own careers and I never really got involved in yours. Then we had to dispatch half the fleet to suppress a Romulan incursion on the - you stopped listening didn't you?" She mumbled, and after a few seconds he sat back and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against his side.

"Sorry what were you saying?" He asked with an air of innocence and she swatted his stomach lightly before shaking her head.

"Never mind. I thought we were done with babies Jonathan."

"Mom surely you're too old to be pregnant again?" HC asked coming into the room, and she knew he'd just been waiting for her to get to the point where she wasn't paying attention to pass a comment on something she said. It seemed to have been his MO since he was 10.

"I'm not too old to beat you around the head." She mumbled as he passed her, feeling the tap he gave her on the shoulder as he did. She was about to get up and chase him down when Jon added a little pressure and looked at her seriously.

"We're done with our babies, they are both grown up, but lets let Katryn and Rollo have theirs, wouldn't you want that?” He asked and all she could do was burst out laughing at his question about the two dogs and their puppies. He had a habit of giving the dogs human traits, and she had taken to teasing him about it rather than getting annoyed.

"You're anthropomorphising our dogs again Jonathan."

"I know." He grinned and burrowed his forehead into the crook of her neck in the way he did when he was trying to convince her not to tease him about something. She shook her head gently then kissed his forehead and smiled.

"So five puppies, we'll keep an eye on them all OK, and if I do sleep I'll sleep here on the sofa."

"You know I love you right?" He said as she started to make a move to stand up, he pulled her back to him and kissed her before letting go again. She momentarily forgot what she was getting up to do, but quickly came back to the moment when one of the puppies started keening.

"After 53 years? I know, the feeling is mutual Jon. Now, watch the puppies, I'm going to shower and change."

"Ow, what was that for." HC exclaimed as she swatted him around the back of the head in passing.

"Being a little smartass. I'm still your mother." She said as HC rubbed his head. She was glad that Jonathan was excited about his puppies, it was nice to see him excited about anything after he had spent so much of the last few years just stressed, not really wanting to spend time on anything that wasn't related to work. His relationship with her and with their children had suffered during his presidency, but now he was working on rebuilding everything, and it seemed to be working. Though that meant HC was gaining more of his father's traits, she wasn't going to complain too much. It was just nice to have her family back together.


End file.
